Announcing some positive changes!

There are some exciting changes around the momstown neighbourhood and I'm just writing to let you know what's going on.

I am so pleased to announce that I am now your FULL TIME momstown mama :)

I'm so excited to start this next step in the evolution of momstown in Hamilton. While the past 7 months that I have been working FT & operating momstown has been great, it's been a continual race every day just to keep the dots connected. I am so thrilled that I will now be able to build the momstown community into the vision I have for it and create a place that you will be excited to be a part of. You will start to see some changes on the message board as I do some tidying and start to initiate programs that are near and dear to my heart. You will also start to see some exciting and new playdates and events on the calendar.

I'm not sure if I've ever shared with all of you where my passion for momstown comes from. I've been a member of momstown since November of 2009. Before that I never had community. I had a career instead. While that might sound hugely limiting and may not be the truth for everyone, it was my truth - and I've seen how, in the past 7 months that I've been back to work, a career like I had could be so isolating. Anyway, I found myself from 2005-2009 with new babies and mostly alone. I decided after a very long lonely stretch that I needed to build community. This is a skill I lacked and I had to learn (and continue to learn). I jumped in with 2 feet to my local church, which I love passionately, and I found momstown. After my family suffered a devastating health issue in 2010 (my husband had a heart attack), I realized the value of what I had found here. It meant so much to me to actually have friends come along side and help me emotionally and practically. That experience birthed in me the commitment to community that I bring to this endeavour. I have a dream for momstown to be a growing, vibrant, supportive community of women actively touching each other’s lives and changing the current face of motherhood; Where we don't just survive motherhood, we thrive in motherhood.

That said, building our community also means connecting you to other organizations in our community. I hope to be able to use our resources to help other groups that work hard to better our neighbourhoods and I also hope to be able to introduce you to some businesses that have great things to offer. To help in that endeavor Ashleigh Patterson and Stephanie Nash are now on board as our resident sales reps. Their job is to reach out to businesses in Hamilton who might want to share something with you; whether it is a message, a sale, a coupon or a trial of their product or service. We will also be doing regular large family weekend events and will be in need of sponsors to help those be successful. If you know anyone in the Hamilton community that you think would be a good fit with us please let us know.

Sarah Rogers is helping me find local editorial information that will benefit you. We will be providing you with roundups, reviews and articles. Please know these are based entirely on our opinion and unless clearly indicated will are unpaid and offered to you as a momstown service. We will be working hard to give you evaluations and insight into the products, services and businesses that we think you should know about. If you have a topic of interest that you think would make a great editorial piece then please share with us.

Finally, our blog will become a much more rich environment we incoporate all of these elements and now that I have the time and energy to commit to it. I am excited to offer any of you the opportunity to write a piece or share some thoughts on anything to do with motherhood. Please let me know if you feel so inclined.

As always I welcome any insight, suggestions or questions. Please remember that Hamilton and surrounding area is a massive community for 1 person to manage. Therefore, there are many small tasks and I welcome volunteer help. I encourage you to jump in and get involved with one another as much as possible. momstown is your community and we will get from it what we put into it.

I hope this news excites you as much as it excites me! I really looking forward to being more hands on and getting to know all of you so much better :)